It may be July, nearly mid winter and birthday month for some (namely me) – but it is also time for another monthly update for the Garden Share Collective. A fab group of like minded global garden bloggers – sharing their verge patches with all those interested.
I must say, I not only enjoy sharing our gardening endeavours, but I love reading how others are faring.
So, this past month other than poke some garlic into the soil, it has been fairly quiet here in terms of planting. That’s not to say though, that I haven’t been thinking about my summer plantings and the garden plan for the warmer months.
Harvesting
Within a week, my cauliflowers have nearly doubled in size, and are shouldering their greenery aside. This gorgeous specimen needed removal as we are having roast chook this evening, and how good is cauli with a tasty cheese sauce?
Our broccoli which is an heirloom variety Di Cicco is tasting as good as ever. This is a particularly clever broccoli as once you have removed the main head, it sends out smaller offshoot florets. Then there is the kale, which I’m loving juicing. Mentioning juices – they are back on the daily menu again and feature anything from carrot, celery, parsley, ginger, beetroot, kale, brassica leaves, spinach, lemon juice and wait for it .. pineapple! Pardon? Blame the hubby for that one, mind you it tastes great!
I’m still harvesting beetroot, which is such a versatile vege – great juiced, roasted, in salads and pickled. Yum!
And it just so happens that the garage still has a plentiful supply of garlic, Egyptian walking onions and bananas, the latter which is ripening nicely.
Plus, I’ve hopped on the end of the spade and starting digging up our yacon tubers which can be eaten sweet or savoury and go very nicely in that morning juice. Sweetish without any calories! Perfect.
Those pea pods are really starting to ‘fatten’ up, so I guess it won’t be long before we will be munching on those. Good!
Things to do
Ah, now we’re talking! There seems to be a list as long as my arm of things to do. But if you live on a lifestyle block, this will often be the case.
We need to finish pruning the olive trees, which after attending a meeting held by Oliveti NZ over the weekend, I am more convinced than ever that we need to be more ruthless with our pruning.
As olive trees fruit on 2nd year wood, a good prune can often mean a reduced crop the following year. But in saying this, harvesting a tree that is huge, has low and crossed branches, and is dense with branches and foliage in the centre is a nightmare.
My hubby was concerned also about the lichen growth on our olives and also some of the trees in the orchard. I did a Google as you do when you are unsure and found some really interesting info.
Apparently lichen doesn’t harm plants on which it grows. However, it can may be more common on plants lacking vigour (not the olives trust me). Seems that it likes damp places, can be found where branches have become overcrowded, enjoys humid conditions and will grow facing the prevailing wind as it enjoys moisture. Ah, plenty of wind on that hillside!
The garden ‘to do’ list
- prune the olives – HARD
- feed the olives, not much happens in winter, but they haven’t received a foliar spray in ages and I’m trying to make myself feel better
- pop the sprayer in the back of the ATV and spray the vege garden with seaweed brew
- trim back some plants that are being bolshie in the vege garden – namely Cape gooseberry (pictured above)
- prune back the roses which just happen to be the bane of my life
- trim back the lemon grass which is out of control
- ditto with the rosemary which I hate disturbing as the bees adore it
- talk to the garden – easy to do, good idea to make sure other people aren’t about though
- weed
- dream about the summer planting plan
And to finish .. we have finally bottled our olive oil. It is just the best stuff – I even drizzled it on a sandwich today, how decadent is that!
Happy gardening